Curtains down on Battlo trial

MARGAO, JUNE 11 – Curtains finally came down on Wednesday on the two-year-old long trial of Goa’s first terror case, involving Kashmiri suspect, Tariq Ahmed Battlo, who is charged by Crime branch under the Explosives Substances Act and for waging a war against the country.
The Fast Track Court headed by Assistant Sessions Judge, Narayan Amonkar will give his verdict in the sensational case on June 30 after the accused represented by Delhi High Court defence counsel, P A Wani completed his arguments today.
While the prosecution has prayed for the conviction of the accused, saying it has successfully brought out all evidence on record, the defense has tried to demolish the prosecution story, terming the charges as false and concocted.
The case of the prosecution is that the accused was arrested at the Margao railway station while alighting from the Mangala Express with explosives such as the deadly RDX, two hand grenades and detonators.
The prosecution further contended that the accused was staying in Goa with two different names with a purpose of conceal his identity and hence charged him for cheating.
Battlo on the other hand, said he was not arrested on March 10 as claimed by the police, but was detained on March 3 from behind the Grace Church building. In support of his argument, he cited newspaper clippings containing the statement of then Chief Minister, Pratapsing Rane made at Sanvordem stating that the police has detained a Kashmiri suspect.
The prosecution, however, has dismissed the newspaper clippings, with the public prosecutor saying that “today’s news is tomorrow’s raddi”, and that the statement can be taken on record only if the author of the news is examined in the court.
The accused has also raised the defence why the Crime branch officials did not immediately alert railway officials or Railway Protection Force, or stop the running train given the danger involved, presuming that Battlo was carrying deadly explosives on his person.

Courtesy:oheraldo.in
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